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Legal Statement

By registering or posting on the Australian Transport Discussion Board (referred to as "the board"), you agree to abide by the board guidelines shown below. Any breaches of these guidelines may result in messages being edited or removed. Repeated breaches may lead to being temporarily or permanently banned from the board.

The word 'message' refers to anything posted on the board including usernames, personal profiles, signatures, private messages and also any images or links to external websites placed in any message, signature or personal profile. The term ‘administrator’ also includes forum moderators where appropriate.

All messages on this board represent the views of their author, not the views of the board administrators or any other person/entity. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless this board, it's administrators and any other person/entity from any action which may occur as a result of a message you post. We reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any information we have about you) in the event of a resultant complaint/enquiry or legal action. Note that your IP address is recorded with each message you post.

The board administrators do not guarantee that they are able to read every message posted on the board and offer no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or usefullness of any information presented. Nor can we guarantee the removal of every message which may breach the board guidelines. If you are aware of a breach of the board guidelines which has not been identified by the board administrators, click on the report icon and submit a report as to what is unsatisfactory about the post concerned.

Posting Guidelines

The following guidelines (which were sourced from guidelines in use on other similar forums) follow the principles of common-sense, courtesy, civility and respect; and are intended to enhance the enjoyment and usefulness of the board to all users. These guidelines may be edited as required to ensure this.

Messages must pertain to Australian Public Transport. "Off-topic" messages should not be posted. [The exceptions being that appropriate Overseas information can be posted in the Overseas section, and messages relating the operation/administration of this board can be posted in the News/Administration section].

Messages shall not be posted to entice heated discussion and abuse, or getting someone to 'bite' (this is known as 'trolling').

Do not post a message to correct the spelling/grammatical errors of another person or to say how irrelevant, boring, childish or stupid you think a subject or person's comments are.

Messages which contain poor spelling/grammar to the extent of making a message incomprehensible may be edited/removed.

Please respect other users and their opinions. Each person has their own opinions, and these opinions must be respected. Do not denigrate/belittle/abuse/harass someone simply because they have a different opinion to you.

Keep your discussion on the subject at hand rather and do not resort to personal attacks.

MILD swearing is acceptable when it is used in context. Strong swearing and words/language which may cause offence are not acceptable at any time.

Please word all criticism of another person's messages, opinions, photographs, etc. in a constructive manner. This also refers to comments made about a particular company or other entity. Criticism which serves no purpose other than to flame or insult will be removed. There is a clear distinction between constructive criticism and unwarranted harassment –the latter is not acceptable.

Should another user provoke, antagonize, slander or otherwise harass you, DO NOT retaliate. Retaliation is exactly what they are after, so do not give them the satisfaction. Bring the message to the attention of board administrators by clicking on the report icon and submitting a report as to what is unsatisfactory about the post concerned.

You shall not send private messages to other users of this board which are abusive/harassing or otherwise in breach of the board guidelines.

You agree to comply with any reasonable request made by a board administrator.

Discussion that goes around in circles without getting anywhere is discouraged. An example is the subject of "STA vs Private Buses" which has been discussed many times in the past and always results in heated discussion with a large number of replies which go around in circles.

'Personal' messages shall not be posted on the board. Personal messages are those that are intended for one or a couple of people and are of no benefit to the general readership of the board. Personal messages should be sent via email, ICQ, private message etc. Registered users of this board can send a message to another user by clicking "pm" below a users name.

Messages shall not contain 'in' comments/jokes. i.e. comments only understood by certain people and not by the general readership of the board.

Jokes or humorous comments may be removed where they are deemed inappropriate or unrelated to the subject being discussed.

Derogatory terms or nicknames should not be used to describe people/entities/vehicles/etc. Correct names and terms should be used both as a sign of respect and also to ensure that all readers are aware of what is being discussed.

Simple messages such as "thanks", "nice photos", "me too" or "I agree" have been found to waste time and are therefore should not be posted. A message consisting of only one or two lines of text may not be worth posting. Messages that do not contribute anything meaningful toward the subject being discussed may be removed.An alternative to posting a "thanks" message if you are asking a question is to include "Thanks in advance" in your initial message. If you wish to thank a person for providing information/photo/etc., this should be done by email, ICQ or private message [click “pm” below the name of the person posting the message to send them a message via this board]. A personal reponse will be more appreciated and is more likely to be read by the individual concerned than a general discussion board post.

If you are not familiar with a subject being discussed, please do not reply with a speculative comment, instead leave it for someone who has full knowledge of the subject involved.

Messages which do not contribute anything meaningful toward the subject being discussed or contain superfluous information may be removed. This includes general ‘chit-chat’ and messages seemingly posted just for the sake of posting a message.

If you wish to ask a question to which the answer is common knowledge but you are not aware yourself of the answer, this should generally be done by private message or email rather than posting the question on the board. At their discretion, an administrator may send a personal reply to such a question and remove the question from the board.

Messages shall not contain personal or privileged information about a person/entity where that person/entity does not wish such information to be posted on a public forum.

Those with a grudge or complaint against a person or entity or those with a 'personal agenda' should not use this board to pursue those purposes. If you have a grudge or complaint against a person or entity you should contact that person or entity or the relevant government agencies where appropriate to resolve your problem.

Messages posted by a newly registered user or a user without a valid email address which contravene the board guidelines may be edited/removed with less scrutiny/investigation than would be given to an established or identifiable or contactable user. This is mainly in reference to 'trolling', harassment and other similar behaviour.

Where a person posts considerably more messages than the average user, messages may be removed where they are not considered necessary.

Messages should be posted in the most appropriate section (see suggestions below if you are unsure about which category to use). Any message posted in the wrong section may be moved to the correct section.

Do not post the same message to more than one section. Post each message only once in the most appropriate section.

Before starting a new subject, always check to see that the subject does not already exist. If the subject you wish to post about is already being discussed, than post your message as a reply to that thread rather than creating a second thread for the same subject.

If a message of yours if edited/removed by a board administrator, do not repost the same content. If you are unsure as to why a message was edited/removed, please contact a board administrator.

Messages should not be edited or removed after someone has replied to that message which then makes the replies meaningless or confusing. If you have posted a message to which replies have been made and you now wish to have the original message removed, please contact an administrator.

If an administrator has edited a message of yours, you must not remove any administrator comments. If you wish these comments to be removed please contact an administrator.

Messages and subject headings shall NOT be written entirely in upper case/bold/large size font/annoying font colour/etc.

Messages should have meaningful subject headings and clearly indicate what you are talking about. Instead of "Any one seen one?" you should write "Has any one seen a Newcastle Volvo B12BLE?"

Requests for information/photos/etc. shall not be forceful in nature. Any member making excessive numbers of posts asking for information/photos/etc. can be asked to reduce the frequency of such postings.

If you are posting information which you believe to be correct but can not confirm it (i.e. a rumour), you clearly need to state it as such. Such messages should be posted only when you have a strong belief that the information is correct.

Relevant information which is obtained from other websites, magazines, newspapers, etc. is encouraged where it will be of benefit to readers of this board, but you must ensure that the source of the information is credited. Please note that you should not copy and paste information from sites which have a copyright condition stating that information from that site is not to be copied or otherwise used – in such cases you should give a brief description of the content and provide the link to the page containing the relevant information.

You should Preview your messages before you click Post. If you realise that you have made a mistake in a message after you have posted it, then instead of replying with a message correcting your initial post, just click the Edit button at the top right hand corner of your initial message and correct the information that is wrong.

Signatures should be subtle and not be more prominent than general message text. They should contain text only, and be a maximum of 5 lines (as displayed on screen) including blank lines.

The exception to the above guideline is that messages promoting personal transport related web sites are allowed, but are limited to one post per person per month and should only be made when changes/updates/additional photos/etc. have been made to the site. Such messages should normally be posted in the Photos, Sounds, Video Clips etc. section

Quizzes, contests, surveys etc. are not appropriate given the format of the board. A survey is determined as being for information gethering where there is a belief that data collection is occuring. Discussions along the lines of "Best of's", "What is your favourite..." etc are permitted, provided they don't breach any other board guidelines. [Edited 11-Mar-2005]

You must be 13 years of age or older to register or post on this board.

In some cases where offending messages are edited/removed, other non-offending replies to such messages may also need to be removed where they would be meaningless and/or confusing if they remained there with the offending message having been removed.

The Buy/Sell/Swap section has additional guidelines listed there which only apply to messages posted in that section.

Breaches of Board Guidelines

Initial breaches of board guidelines will result in the offending message(s) being edited/removed. If the offending content is the entire message then the message will be removed. If the offending content is only part of a message then the message will be edited removing the offending content. Where it is not clear that the poster would be aware of how their message has breached board guidelines they will be contacted by private message. If a message of yours if edited/removed by a board administrator, do not repost the same content. If you are unsure as to why a message was edited/removed, please contact a board administrator.

For repeated breaches the user will be contacted and given a Warning by either Private message, email or where appropriate as a reply to a message they have posted.

Further breaches may incur a temporary ban, usually for a period of 48 hours.

Repeated refusal to comply with warnings issued by administrators will result in a Final Warning being issued via Private message or email.

Further breaches of board guidelines after receiving a Final Warning will, with the agreement of the majority of the board administrators, result in the user being permanently banned.

If you have been temporarily or permanently banned, then you are not permitted to post via another member or by registering another username. If it is found that this rule has been breached, you may have your ban extended. In addition, a person posting on your behalf may also face the same action.

Sections (or categories) on the boardIf you are not sure which section is correct for posting a message, the following suggestions may assist:

Information about new buses, or other changes that affect the bus fleet list pages should go under Bus Fleet List Changes

If you are posting photos/sounds/video clips/etc. or links to those you have posted elsewhere on the internet, and it is not related to a subject being discussed in another category, these should go under Photos, Sounds, Video Clips etc.If you are posting photos/sounds/video clips/etc. in relation to a subject being discussed in another thread, then you can post your message as a reply to the relevant subject being discussed rather than in the Photos etc. section.Announcements of updates to personal web sites should go in the Photos, Sounds, Video Clips etc. section.

Any requests for photos/sounds should be made in the Photos, Sounds, Video Clips etc. section.

If what you are posting is relevant to a particular state, then post it in the relevant state section (or the Overseas section as appropriate).

If what you are posting is relevant to more than one state or is not specific to a particular state, then post it in the General Transport Discussion section.

If you are posting a message pertaining to timetable changes or related matters it should be posted in the relevant state section under Timetable and Service Changes.

If you have something to Buy/Sell/Swap, always use the Buy/Sell/Swap section.

Comments about the operation/administration of this board go in the News/Administration section.

Privacy StatementThis site may record information about you, such as your email address and any information you volunteer to enter in your personal profile. In addition, your IP address is recorded with each message you post. Information you enter in your personal profile is usually visible to all registered users. Your email address remains hidden from other board users unless you select Yes for the "Always show my e-mail address" option in your personal profile. Email addresses are not sold or otherwise made available to others for the purpose of generating mailing lists. Any information we may hold about you remains confidential and will only be released in the case of serious breaches of the board guidelines or a complaint/enquiry from an ISP or legal representatives. The content of Private messages you send to other users on this board can be accessed by the board administrators – this information is only accessed in the case of a complaint being received.